30 Jan 24

Priorslee Balancing Lake and The Flash

6.0°C: Low / medium overcast with some spells of light drizzle. Moderate, fresh-feeling north-westerly wind. Good visibility.

Sunrise: 07:56 GMT

* = a species photographed today

Priorslee Balancing Lake: 06:40 – 09:20

(28th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the pen Mute Swan looked to be examining her nest site.
- what is presumably the same duck Goosander here for its seventh day.
- Song Thrushes were singing from 12 locations this morning. I cannot be positive that these were all different birds. Their song is somewhat intermittent and birds are not always in the same place on successive days so are probably still establishing their territories.

Counts of birds noted flying over:
- 6 Canada Geese: three pairs outbound
- 1 Greylag Goose: inbound
- 9 Wood Pigeons
- 3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 20 Jackdaws
- 2 Rooks

Birds seen leaving roosts around the lake:
- 1 Redwing again

Counts from the lake area:
- 2 + 2 Mute Swans
- 2 Canada Geese: pair throughout
- 6 (4♂) Mallard
- 11 (6♂) Tufted Duck
- 1 (0♂) Goosander
- 8 Moorhens
- 55 Coots
- c.200 Black-headed Gulls:
- *5 Herring Gulls
- *2 possible Caspian Gulls: adults
- 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
- 1 Grey Heron

Noted on or around the street lamp poles pre-dawn

Moths:
- 1 in flight only. Possibly a Winter Moth Operophtera brumata though rather late in the flight period for this species.

Beetles:
- *1 weevil, possibly Nedyus quadrimaculatus

Other insects:
- 1 springtail Tomocerus vulgaris
- *2 other springtail
- *2 Dicyrtoma globular springtails, probably D. fusca.

Spiders:
- *1 Stout Sac Spider Clubiona sp.
- *1 Nursery Web Spider Pisaura mirabilis

Later:

Nothing of note

Gull puzzle time again. The adult gull at the left shows a gentle rounded head and a beady eye so perhaps it is a Caspian Gull. The adult gull on the right has a narrow, parallel-sided bill so perhaps it too is a Caspian Gull. Yet they look very different. Obsidentify was happy to suggest that both were indeed Caspian Gulls. I have been known to disagree with Obsidentify about gulls in the past so who knows.

I am happier with this as a second year Herring Gull even though the tail band looks rather too solid and the head rather pale.

This may or may not be the same bird. With the tail spread the outer feathers are in fact pale.

A Grey Wagtail.

Here it is again. Reminder: wagtails are named after the colour of their back so this is not a Yellow Wagtail as is easy to presume.

One of the unknown springtails on the street lamp poles pre-dawn.

And another. I have not seen one with a pale / silver rear part to its abdomen.

One of the Dicyrtoma globular springtails, probably D. fusca.

This weevil was not resting at a handy angle for positive identification. Possibly Nedyus quadrimaculatus, associated with nettles.

And this angle is not much better.

A Stout Sac Spider Clubiona sp.

A Nursery Web Spider Pisaura mirabilis that seems to have been in the wars. Only five legs. On the spider's right side the two front legs are, typically, held close together. It would probably have done the same on the left had it been full-legged.

(Ed Wilson)

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The Flash: 09:25– 10:25

(27th visit of the year)

Bird notes:
- the two Great Crested Grebes, one with extensive head plumes, spent some time asleep together.

Bird/s noted flying over here:

None

Noted on / around the water:
- 16 Canada Geese
- 17 Greylag Geese
- 1 Canada x Greylag Goose
- 2 + 4 Mute Swans
- 2 (1♂) Gadwall
- 37 (25♂) Mallard
- 1 (1♂) all-white feral duck
- 3 (3♂) Pochard
- 61 (28♂) Tufted Duck
- 19 Moorhens
- 45 Coots
- 2 Great Crested Grebes
- 6 Black-headed Gulls
- 2 Herring Gulls: first and third winters

Noted on or around the street lamp poles:
- *1 Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni

Last seen on the same lamp on Friday. An Alder Leaf Beetle Agelastica alni.

(Ed Wilson)

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Sightings from previous years

2014
Priorslee Lake
2 Cormorants
1 Teal
7 Pochard
66 Tufted Duck
3 Greater Scaup
1 Velvet Scoter
91 Coots
1 Woodcock
50 Herring Gulls
33 Redwings
c.495 Jackdaws
(Ed Wilson)

The Flash
106 Tufted Ducks
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock Pool
7 Pochard
25 Tufted Duck
4 Goosander
44 Coots
(Ed Wilson)

Park Pool, Chetwynd near Newport
31 Shoveler
(Ed Wilson)

2013
Priorslee Lake
29 Wigeon
10 Gadwall
8 Pochard
59 Tufted Ducks
1 Scaup
169 Coots
>300 Starlings
13 Redwings
46 Fieldfare
211 Jackdaws
(Ed Wilson, John Isherwood)

The Flash
9 Pochard
54 Tufted Duck
(Ed Wilson)

Trench Lock Pool
2 Goosander
Sparrowhawk
(John Isherwood)

Holmer Lake
1 Gadwall
9 Goosander
1 Little Grebe
Goldcrest
Nuthatch
(John Isherwood)

2012
Priorslee Lake
4 Great Crested Grebes
21 Pochard
42 Tufted Duck
c.190 Black-headed Gulls
48 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
8 Herring Gulls
Glaucous Gull
75 Redwing
16 Bullfinch
(Ed Wilson, Martin Grant)

Priorslee Flash
1 Pochard
43 Tufted Ducks
282 Black-headed Gulls
3 Lesser Black-backed Gulls
2 Herring Gulls
(Ed Wilson)

2010
Priorslee Lake
1 Water Rail
4 Gadwall
2 Willow Tit
(John Isherwood)

2009
Priorslee Lake
A female Ruddy Duck
500+ Lesser Black-backed Gulls, Herring & Black-headed Gulls.
1 Yellow-legged Gull
1 Great Black-backed Gull
(Ed Wilson)